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Lincoln 




Class _£_U_I 
Book__ 



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•I l)pli('vc the liiind of <Uu\ pl.-icpil liiiii wheiv he Is." 

-JOHN HAY, 




Hy Geo. D. Perkins 



Centennial Anniversary 



Sioux City, February 12 
1909 



John Hay was Lincoln's jnnior private secretary. 
His senior was John G. Nicohiy. They were the literary 
executors of the war president. 

A delightful personal letter from Hay to Nieolay, 
written in the sweltering August of 1863, has been added 
to the literature of this annivtn'sary year. 
Hay wrote : 

"Everybody has gone. The tycoon is in fine whack. 
I have rarely seen him more serene and busy. He is 
managing this war, the draft, foreign relations, and 
planning a reconstruction of the union, all at once. I 
never knew with what tyrannous authority he rules the 
cabinet, till now. The most important things he decides 
and there is no cavil." There is a glimpse of Lincoln's 
energy, power and faith. In the midst of everything, 
and in the days of 1863, when everything was dark, he 
was "planning a reconstruction of the union." 

I think this faith had to do with what follows in the 
Hay letter, which T beg you to note: 

"There is no man in the ccmntry so wise, so gentle 
and so firm. I believe the hand of God phu-ed him where 
he is." 

Hay was then 2ri. and su<'h was the impression made 
on the mind of the young man in his intimate associatifm.' 
As to some things set forth by Hay in this personal: 
letter we are now, on this centenai-y anniversary, agreed; 
but as to the belief of tlie yoiuig man. in the ])i)ssession 
of which he died, beloved and full of honor. 1 imagine 
there is more obscurity of tbinkiiig. 

We are disi)osed to say in the company of supci'ti- 
ciidilv that the age of mii-acles is past, but to give tlie 



mind to that coiielusion is to drift r-iidderh^ss on a tcni- 
pestnons and shoreless sea. 

The toucliin"' words of Lincoln in his fannvell to his 
friends at Springtield, as he was setting forth in Feb- 
ruary, 1861, to steal his way to Washington to assume 
the great office to which he had been chosen, lifted a 
sacred veil from his soul. He said : 

"To this place, and the kindness of these people, I 
owe everything. Here I have lived a (piarter of a cen- 
tury, and have passed from a young to an old man. 
Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I 
now leave, not knowing when oi- whether ever I may re- 
turn, with a task before me greater than that which 
rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that 
divine being who ever attended him. I cannot succeed. 
With that assistance. I cannot fail. Trusting in him, 
who can go with me. and remain with you. and be every- 
where for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet 
be well. To his care commending you, as I hope in your 
prayers you will commend me. I bid you an affectionate 
farewell." 

We need not deem it strange that at the time it was 
asked if any good thing c(mld come out of Hardin 
c(miity. in the wilds of Kentucky. Lincoln came into 
prominence and to the presidency in rebuke of tradition. 
He took into national leadei-ship the figure of the l)ack- 
woodsman. He was lean and lank, six feet fonr. willi a 
hand that gave no sign of the delicacy of his heart. My 
belief is that he was one of the "called according to his 
purpose." 

At" least, the story has kinship of interest with the 
best put down in holy writ. 

It was given to tliis new woi'ld to wrestle with the 
great iu'ot)l('ni of human bondage. The trial was not 
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for xVniericii alone; it wns for every Ifuid iindei' the sun. 
Therefore it was for us fo drink the cup to its dregs. 
The (•oh)nists aecepted the institution from the mother 
oountry. At the conclusion of the war of independence 
it was thought the divine spirit of the dechiration under 
whieli the war was precipitated wouUl soon clear the flag 
of the young repu])lie. 

The uppermost thought in the constitutional conven- 
tion of 1787 was "to f\)rm a more perfect union, estab- 
lish justice, insure domestic ti'an<|uilit'y. provide for the 
common defense, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of liberty to oui'selves and our pos- 
terity." Not many were interested in slavery, but the 
exigencies of the time required recognition of its exis- 
tence. Georgia and South Carolina insisted on that con- 
dition. So it was written: "No person held to service 
or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping 
into another, shall, in consequeuf-e of any law nr regu- 
lation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, 
but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom 
such service or labor may be due." 

But in the first congress we had the oi'dinance of 
1787. forming the northwest territory, out of which w(^ 
have Oliio, Indiana. Illinois. Michigan. Wisconsin anil 
^linnesota, in which slavt^-y was forever prohibited. 
That was the beginning of the coil which tiglifened as 
the years went by and finally strangled the institution 
in the bloody struggle of the gre.it war of '61 to 'fio. 
The bitter cup was drained fo the last drop. Every 
slave was made fi-ee, and the liberty light of the United 
States shone ronnd the W(U'ld. A wonderful history was 
written in the centin-y lying betwet'ii. 

With the invention of the cotton gin and the conse- 
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qiuMit (Itn'elopiiKMit of tlu' cotton industry, slavery was 
fused with the life of the southern states. 

The Louisiana purchase in 180:^ was not a disturhiiij; 
event. That gave us confrol of the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi river, and little reckoning was made over the vast 
territory to the northward, out of which the great states 
of the Missouri basin have been created. The south was 
in the saddle. It was before the days of railroads and 
telegraphs, advance agents of tidal waves of emigration. 
The secrets of the future were well guarded. There was 
no dream of contlict between the inland and the sea. 

The ^lissouri compromise of 1820 seemed at the time 
in the interest of the slave power. ^Missouri was added 
to the slave states. But it was conceded tlrat all Louis- 
iana territory, except ^fissouri. north of 86 80", north 
lat., should be forever barred to slavery. Could Iowa, 
Kansas, Nebraska, the land of the Dakotas. and the re.st 
ever be anything but a waste for Indians and wild ani- 
mals? Missouri was gained, and nothing lost. 

The railroads were pioneers in unfolding the i>lan 
hidden from t'he view of men. As railroads advan cd 
to con(iuer the empii'e of the west, mighty states followed 
in their c(Mirse. 

For well nigh thirty ycnvs the tide of anti-slavery 
sentiment rose steadily. It S])read consternation in 18r)(i; 
it brought to view its wliite crest to the fart'liest south 
state in 18()0. and latei'. under the gnnit l.'adcrship of 
Abraham Lincoln, it established, under challengt^ ui)on 
every slave l)attlement tlie Hag of th(^ free. 

The Mexican war. in its time, was signal that the 
south had awakened to the fact fhat the c(|uilibrium by 
which it held the north in check was being destroyed. The 
republic of Texas was annexed in 184"). The plan was 
to convert' it into five slavt'lioldiny states. The wai' with 



^Mexico wa.s provoked to H('([uire additional territory for 
slavery. Under the terms of peace a large territory was 
ceded to the United States, where now we have, in whole 
or part, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado 
and Wyoming; and that was in 1848, sixty-one years 
ago this month. 

Was the discovery of gold in California a miracle? 
Surely, at least, it was in the plan. 

Tlie ink was scarcely dry on the treaty with Mexico 
when the news of the discovery began fo spread. The 
gold fever took wide range. The inoculation extended 
to people over the sea. The movement to California 
was unprecedented in the history of migration ; and the 
exodus was not appreciably of slave owners. The 
population of (J!alifornia jumped from a few thousand 
to near 100,000; and then California stood at the door 
of the union, knocking, with a constitution that barred 
slavery. 

One of the ])atheti<' figures of the time was John C. 
Calhoun, the mighty senator from South Carolina, with 
the hand of deat'li upon him. The compromist- resolu- 
tions of 1850 had been introduced by Clay. He had tlie 
support of Welister; he had the opposition of Calhoun. 
There was hardly anything more to Ix' said than these 
men said. The great speech of Callioun was read for 
him by a Ijrother senator, lie draggeil himself to the 
senate to hear and to take such pai't as he could. Death 
took him on thr last day of March. Calh..iui foretold 
that the union would he sevei-cd unlcs.s llic c(|uilil)riuni 
between the south ;ni(l north were luaiiitaiiicd : and he 
insisted upon the im])ossiblt^ condition that agitation to 
the prejudice of slavery cea.se. lie stoutly maintained 
the doctrine that the const itutiim carried slavery into 
ail the ivrritorics of the I'nilcd States. The north was 



challenged to surrender or snffei' the inevital)le conse- 
quence of disunion. Zachary Taylor, the southerner, 
died. a)id was succeeded by Millard Fillmore, the north- 
erner. California was admitted as a free state. 

The Mexican war was a failure — colossal on the 
southern side. 

The great question of the equilibrium remained ; the 
af]rit'ati(m went on with increasing volume, and another 
sti'uggle was (piickly provided. 

In 1854, under the lead of Stephen A. Douglas, am- 
bitious for the presidency, the Missouri compromise was 
set aside by the Kansas-Nebraska bill, reported by him. 
affirming the doctrine, as it came to be known, of 
"squatter sovereignty." ' 

Lincoln had served one term in congress — 1847-1840. 
He believed he was out of pcdifics, but events wheeled 
him into line. He quickly took his place as the leader 
of the anti-slavery sentiment of Illinois. Ilis supporters 
wanted to send him to the senate in 1855 as the successor 
of (}en. Shields, l)ut there were a fmv anti-whig votes 
he could not control, and Lyman Truuibull was made 
senator. In 1856 his friends wanted him on ttie rejiubli- 
can ticket with Fremont. h\\\ the vice presidential nomi- 
nation went to Dayfon. In 1858 he was nominated in 
state convention for the Douglas succession in the s<Miate. 
and the memorable debate between Lincoln and Douglas 
followed. Lincoln carried a majority of the popular vote, 
but tbe disti'icfs wtM'e so foi'iiied that be lost out in the 
legislatur-e ; and thus was Lincoln preserved for tlie 
presidency. 

Between 1815 jind 18()() aiiti-slavci'y senlinicnt irrrw 
by leaps and Ijounds. Emigrants from the old world, 
tlocking to our shoj-es. chose the free states for settle- 
ment. The south was losing in the conufess and the 



north was gainino^. The handwriting on the wall became 
more and more conspienous. 

At the inception of the great struggle the situation 
was better understood in the south than it was in the 
north. It was seen there that the time for compromise 
M'as past, and that the time for decisive and final action 
had come. The expectation was that the north would 
let it go ; that if resistance were offered the friends of 
the south in the north would supply efficient aid to 
bring resistance to a speedy close. The warning of 
Calhoun was not sufficiently heeded on this side. The 
talk of dissolution of the iniion, that human bondage 
might be perpetuated, was put down to the bluster and 
the vapor of southern oratory. 

The south knew the coil was tightening. Buchanan's 
election involved postponement, and nothing more. The 
election of Lincoln wa.s the signal to arms. There was 
no more time to dawdle. The waiting game was seen to 
be a losing one. Repulses in congress were intlammatory 
to the mind. Every year the balance of power was be- 
coming more one-sided. It was then or never ; then, 
more than ever in the future it could hope to be, the 
south was prepai'ed. In all Hvailabh^ ways provision had 
been made. The south was inipelhMl l)y the power of its 
own logic to force the issue. The south was united; the 
north, because of its freedom, divided. 

Small chance had been given the north to iiuike pro- 
vision for civil w.ir. The cry of "Tlie \uiion forevei'!" 
rose above the murnuiring of the northei-n sui)pr>rt the 
south anticipated. Foreign intervention — so hoped for 
there, so dreaded liere — did not come. 

Leadership '. It was thought to be all witli the south. 
But Abraham Lincoln had been providentially supplied; 
and tliere w;is ti'anip of iiuiiiy feet, nnd llie answer above 



the drum beats, "We are coming, Father Abraham, 
300,000 more!" 

But let us go back a moment to 1858. 
As to the manner of man Lincoln was is disclosed 
in the lines, portentous to him and the cause of human 
liberty, with which he opened his speech in response to 
the action of fhe state convention in naming him as 
senatorial candidate against the "Little Giant.'' The 
words made echo around the world. He said : 

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I 
believe this government cannot endure permanently half 
slave and half free. I do not expect the union to be 
dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do 
expect it to cease to be divided. It will become all one 
thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery 
will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where 
the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course 
of ultimate extinction ; or its advocates will push it for- 
ward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, 
old as well as new — north as well as south." 

That was Lincoln 's keynote. It was a bold utterance 
for the time. William H. Seward, less direct of speech, 
declared the conflict irrepressible. All free or all slave ! 
That was the issue conf nmting the south. Secession was 
precipitated as the only recourse, and with the south 
hedged in and the north expanding delay would be fatal. 
Calhoun had sounded the note on the southern side. 

There had been a wonderful succession of events in 
the preceeding half score of years. It was a mighty 
procession: The :\Iexican war; the Wilmot proviso; the 
stream of free men. by sea and desolate land, to Cali- 
fornia; the inflammable f^lors of the south met every- 
where; the slave biuiters on many trails; the heart- 
thiilling book of Harriet P.eecher Stowc ; the far cries 

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of the Phillipsfs and the Garrisons; the broken faith in 
the repeal of the Missouri compromise ; the Dred Scott 
decision; the Kansas civil war, with immi^i'ants from 
liberty states on one side and "border ruffians" on the 
other; the heroic figure of "Ossawattomie" Brown — 
John Brown, whose "soul goes marching on." There 
has been nothing like it in the history of time. 

Abraham Lincoln, his own schoolmaster, the country 
lawyer, product of tlie h)wly, with acquaintance only 
just begun in states beyond his own, was nominated for 
president by a party of new birth — in Chicago, ]\Iay 18. 
1860. Suprise was general. The result was unlooked 
for in Iowa. The impression was that William H. Sew- 
ard would be the man — the cultivated New Yorker, 
leader in the senate of anti-slavery sentiment. 

Was the nomination of Lincoln a miracle? And was 
his election, with the opposition divided as a Red sea. 
the consunnuation of it ? 

The work of Lincoln was to preserve the union, and 
upon that he bent all the noble resources of his mind. 
All other issues were submerged by the one. llis first 
inaugural address was a pathetic appeal t'o his country- 
men. He closed with words that cannot die : 

"In your hantls. my dissntisfied fellow countrymen, 
and not in min(\ is the momentous issue of the civil war. 
The government will not assail you. You have no con- 
flict without being yourselves t'he aggre.ssoi-s. Yon ha vi- 
no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, 
while I shall have the most solenni one to 'j)reserve. pi'o- 
tect and defend it.' ■ 

"I am loath to close. We are not enemies. i)ut 

friends. We nuisl not he enemies. Though passion may 

have strained it must not i)i'eak our bonds of affection. 

The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every 

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battlefield ami patriot grave to every living heart and 
hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the 
ehoi-ns of th(^ union when again tonehed, as surely they 
will be, by the better angels of our nature." 

Sublime prophecy! Complete fulfillment is jeweled 
in the heritage of our time. 

There was much assumption that the administration 
would proceed roughly t'o destroy slavery. There was 
confusion of tongues. But Lincoln did not mean to in- 
terfere with slavery in the states where it lawfully 
existed; he meant to protect the territories and restrict 
its spread. He may have thought there would be no war 
under clear understanding of his purpose; but the fact 
of his presidency and the increasing power of his party 
satisfied the south that the time had come for the 
abandonment of hope that slavery could live in a gov- 
ernment controlled by its enemies. 

The answer came in the belching guns of Beauregard 
on defenseless Sumter. The issue was joined to be 
settled through the arlutrament of savage war at cruel 
cost. 

Lincoln, in inexpressi])le sorrow of heai't. was driven 
in upon his faith. The world has never witnessed a 
higher example of moral courage. The troul)le most 
perplexing and grievous to lie borne came fi-om friends. 
He suffered mistrust, he became the ol)ject of contumely 
— and he went often apart to pray I In strong quarters 
pet policies were put before the great cause of saving 
the union, and against these currents Lincoln stood, the 
giant that he was. 

In August, L'^fJ'i, Lincohi i-eplied to Horace Greeley 
in these woi'ds : 

"My paramount olijeel is to save the union, and not 
either to save or destroy slavery. If 1 could save the 
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union without freeing any slave, I would do it; if T 
could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; 
and, if I eould do it l)y freeing some and leaving others 
alone, I would also do that." 

Mr. Greeley, great as he was and beyond k\\ question 
patriotic as he was. did not understand Lincoln or dis- 
cern the wisdom of his way; and it is not surprising 
that smaller minds, opinionated- and zealous, joined in 
angry disputation. 

It was well that Lincoln was patient, open-minded, 
forbearing, longsuffering, resourceful, selfreliant, of 
abiding faith and overflowing with good works. He was 
a man of many sorrows ; he went often into the valley 
of the shadow of death, but he came forth again, renewed 
in strength, in the company of the Shepherd of his faith. 
The last time Gen. John M. Palmer saw Lincoln 
alive was in 1865, at the dawn of peace. Lincoln was in 
the hands of the barber, but he said to Palmer to come 
right in ; " you are home folks and it doesn 't matter 
with home folks." During a pause in the conversation 
Palmer said he was thinking of the great war and its 
enormous responsil>ilities. 

"Mr. Lincoln," said Palmer good humoredly, "if 1 
had known there was to be so great a rebellion 1 should 
never have thought of going to a one-horse town for a 
one-horse lawyer for president." 

Lincoln stretched forth his anus, pushed the bai-lx-r 
aside, and abruptly wheeled nbout to face his visitor. 
Palmer thought he was angry because of what he had 
said. But Lincoln replied : 

"Nor I either. It's lucky for this counti-y no man 
was chosen who had a gi-eat policy and would have 
stuck to it. If such a man had been chosen this rel)ellion 
would never have reached a successful conclusion. 1 



have had no great policy ; but I have tried to do my duty 
every day, hoping that the inon-ow woultl find tlinf I liad 
done riglit." 

Lincoln possessed the highest order of judicial tem- 
perament. He could be fair with foe as well as friend; 
he had humility and was merciful. 

I cannot forbear ([noting the concluding words of his 
second inaugural address, for they reveal the grandeur 
of his soul, the containment of his miiul, the key to all 
his greatness. 

Listen : 

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with 
firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let 
us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the 
nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have l)orne 
the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all 
which may achieve and cherish a lasting peace among 
ourselves and with all nations." 

That was on the 4th of IMarch, 1865. At Appomattox, 
April !), following, the greatest of soldiers. G-en. Ulysses 
S. Grant, received the sui'rcnder of Gen. Robert E. Lee. 
the greatest of the soldiers of the confederacy — and the 
war was over. 

In his way~-sluill we say in flie Lord's way:' — l)y 
proclamation aiul by constitutional enactment, the stain 
of slavery was blotfcd fi'om the ma]) of the Tnited Sfati^s; 
and to the glory of the Hag it can never come hack — for 
such is the will of a common p(M)p]e. whether of those 
who bought and sohl, or of those who died to make men 
free. 

"The union forever !" 

In the midst of nafional ivjoicing. on the 14th of 
April, file gi-eaf president was assassinated. It was fo 
avenge the south; l)ut the vengeance was upon the south 
13 



— for with the death of Lincoln the south h)st' its l)est, 
its noblest, its stronoest friend. 

Lincoln in that April time, preserved to the comple- 
tion of the task given him to do, was on a mount of 
Pisgah. He looked over into the promised land, and God 
took him. 

On this centenary day we give him of the best of 
ourselves ; and he leads us on. His name is writ in im- 
mortal life in the fadeless stars ; and with every unfold- 
ing of the emblem of our union we hallow its stripes for 
him and because of him glory in its firmament. "We are 
together, north and south, for Lincoln. We join hands 
in indissoluble brotherhood, lift moist eyes to heaven 
and repeat, with one accord: "We believe the hand of 
God placed him where he was. ' ' 

The heritage of children's children, transmuted from 
generation to generation, is from the riches of his life. 
"By it he being dead yet speaketh. ' ' 

Great Example ! Our Great Emancipator ! The Sav- 
ior of Our Country ! 



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